Encountering Elementals
by jennytork
Summary: Gemini AU - Incorporating events of season one's "Shadow" - two threads come together as both Meg and John finally meet Gemini
1. Driving In To Chicago

Sam idly tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of Boston's "Long Time" and announced, "Chicago city limits."

Dean looked up from the newspaper accounts. He lay them aside and grabbed a sheet of paper Sam had printed out before they left the hotel. He read the directions off, and a half hour later the Impala was pulling up outside a motel on the outskirts of the city.

Once they were in the room, Sam turned to Dean, shaking his head. "I'm still having a little trouble believing 'Mister Voicemail' actually picked up."

"Oh, believe me, I gave him a little hell for it," Dean chuckled. "Not too much, but enough to let him know I was _inot/i_ happy about the radio silence."

Sam lay the research on the table and asked, "Did Dad set us on this, or-"

Dean shook his head. "Said he was heading here. We were closer, so I told him we'd handle it."

"Good." Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry, but I'm gettin' sick of the co-ordinates game."

"I hear you," Dean said, curling a hand on the back of Sam's neck and squeezing once before releasing him. "But right now, you know it's best if we keep our distance from Dad."

"Cause of Gemini," they sighed in unison, and Sam finished, "Doesn't mean I like it."

"Nobody's sayin' you have to," Dean smiled a little bit. "I don't like it, either."

Sam finally returned the slight smile. "That makes me feel better."

"Good. Now, let's get fed and-"

The crackle of the police scanner from one of their duffels interrupted Dean. They listened as another murder was reported. The sickened horror in the voice told them more than the almost clinical words.

Sam wrote down the address while Dean grabbed his keys. "I'll get our fed suits out of the trunk."

Sam looked up. "Wait – I got a better idea. I wanna try something."

"What?" Dean asked, then sighed deeply as Sam's grin turned almost wicked.

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

Meg watched as the creature bid farewell to the stranger and closed the door. _You better have made sure he was clean,_ she snarled.

The creature didn't respond – as usual.

 _After the favour I did you, you owe me one._

She felt the creature roll her eyes, dismissing her.

 _Winchester is coming. I made sure of it._

The creature had been waking through the apartment. She froze.

 _I called him,_ Meg said. _Told him to stay away. You know that will bring him like a moth to a flame._

"...how..."

 _When you caught me on the phone. I wasn't calling for help._

"You... You were... _helping_ me?"

 _Of course I was. We want the same thing. We both want to survive. You won't be in me forever and I fully intend to survive this!_

"You couldn't have done that. Not for that reason."

 _Then why are you talking to me?_

"...I..."

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

He found a motel on the outskirts of Denver and stopped for the night. He was furious at his body's demand for sleep instead of driving.

He had to get to Chicago.

His boys were more than likely walking into something meant for him. He had to get to his boys!

And if he ran into that Elemental that seemed to have attached itself to them?

He would make it wish it had never heard the name Winchester.


	2. Chicago Mystery

_CHAPTER TWO_

"I hate dressing up," Dean groused as they walked up to the victim's apartment building. "Dad and I never needed these play uniforms."

Sam just grinned, knowing from being one person part of the time that Dean wasn't really hating on the outfit per se, but on the layers pressing on his chest. There was a reason Dean wore all his overshirts open, after all. "You can unzip it once we're inside."

Dean shot a wry grin at him. "And I _really_ hate that you can see through my bull now."

Sam just shot a grin in return as they got to the apartment and talked their way in as cleaners sent by the adjuster.

Once they were alone, Dean unzipped the jumpsuit and sighed in relief once the brass bull's head wasn't pressing on his sternum any longer. "Almost rather have it clock me in the mouth again," he groused.

"I shortened the cord a little, last time I ended up wearing it," Sam said. "Has that made a difference in the mouth smashing?"

"Yup," Dean admitted. He ran the EMF meter over the room, frowning as it picked up traces over the place where the victim had been found. "...huh."

"Got something, then?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Dean studied the blood splatter, then pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of it.

Being one person part of the time was altering both brothers, it seemed. Sam was more wiling to be more patient with Dean, and Dean understood him much better. Dean was more willing to use technology and tolerate research. He also was more willing to let Sam drive.

Dean traced the pattern on the screen. "That looks familiar." They left the building and Sam drove back to the motel while Dean flipped through the symbology index the brothers were compiling.

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

A half hour later, Sam was in the shower when Dean knocked on the wall. "Yeah!" he called.

"I think it's a daeva," Dean called.

"Hold on!" Sam shut off the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, using another to dry off. "Water in the ears. Thought I heard you say it was 'Davy'."

Dean chuckled. "Daeva. Zoro-astrian shadow demons."

Sam whistled. "That's old magic."

"Insanely old," Dean sighed. "Only defense seems to be to eliminate the shadows."

"Which - yeah," Sam groaned. "How do you fight a _shadow?"_

Dean opened his mouth but whatever he was going to say was lost when Sam's stomach made its emptiness known. He laughed. "Let's talk about it after we eat!"

Sam chuckled as he dressed.

As the Impala pulled away from the motel, neither brother was aware of the eyes on them. John Winchester slowly pulled his truck into their vacated spot as he watched his sons drive away.


	3. Getting To Know You

**CHAPTER THREE**

To her shock, the creature found herself warming to Meg. She listened as the human – to try to keep herself sane - rambled about her childhood, her working on being a gymnast, having a sister...

"I have a brother," she found herself saying. "And – just curious – you said 'Meg Masters' at one point. Is that really your name?"

 _... Yes, it is. You know that! You introduced yourself to the Winchester boy using my name!_

"No, I didn't. I introduced myself using _my_ name. I saw your last name on your ID and it only had an initial, so..."

 _Your name is Meg. Your real name is Meg. You're kidding._

"No. Megara."

 _Megan._

The creature chuckled. "How about that?"

 _Someone has a really twisted sense of humour._

"Sounds like it." She stood and stretched. "I gotta get outta here. Find somewhere loud and dark and full of booze."

Meg groaned. _Sounds like my idea of Hell._

Creature-Meg laughed. "Perfect!"

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

 _Oh, yeah,_ Meg growled as the lights and beat pulsed through her body. _I was right. My perfect version of Hell._

Creature-Meg laughed in unfeigned delight. It never seemed to cross her mind that she and the "meatsuit" were actually teasing each other.

Meg kept up a low-level grumble, which was why Creature-Meg noticed when she fell silent. "What is it?"

 _Look who just walked in._

"Those aren't – are those the Winchester boys?" A cold smile spread over her face. "Okay, here we go. Where they are, we can lure Papa Winchester in!"

 _And maybe this will be over soon._

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

Sam found Dean and pulled him outside the club, so they could talk without screaming. "Okay," he started off, "that was bizarre."

"Every time you start off like that, I worry," Dean said bluntly. "What happened?"

"Not a what – a who. Remember that weird chick at the bust station outside Burkittsville awhile back?"

Dean started to shake his head 'no', but then paused. "The one who came on so strong she stank?"

Sam chuckled. "That's the one."

"What ab-" Dean blinked as the pieces slotted together. "She's _here?"_

"Ran into her in the club," Sam winced. "Literally. Old magic and then there's an old 'friend' what just 'happens' to show up? That's too big of a coincidence to be a coincidence."

Dean licked his lips, nodding. "Okay, then. I'll go get the car and we follow Little Miss Pushy."

Sam nodded. "Yeah – this whole thing just feels fishy."

They waited till Meg emerged from the club and then followed her to a high rise and up to the seventh level. They saw her contact someone – or something – from an altar. When she stepped away from it and vanished into the bowels of the building, the brothers crept toward the altar from two different directions.

Sam caught Dean's eye and mimed snapping the fingers of his left hand, eyebrows raising in a question.

Before Dean could answer, his little brother went down like a sack of potatoes. Dean didn't get more than halfway to his feet, left hand closing to snap, when pain erupted sharp and white in his head and he tumbled into the waiting blackness.


	4. Meg Vs Gemini

_CHAPTER FOUR_

Someone was singing.

That was the first thing that registered as Sam swam back to consciousness. He opened his eyes to find Meg singing as she finished tying Dean to a pole. Dean's head bobbed – he was reviving as well.

Sam tested the bonds he was tied with and grunted softly. Meg must have been a Scout somewhere in her twisted past, he reasoned, because those knots were tied fast.

But Meg had heard the grunt. She turned her head and smiled, walking over toward Sam. "You're awake. Naughty boys, following me here."

Dean shifted in his bonds and his eyes widened. He caught Sam's eyes and motioned with his head for him to keep her talking, then began to work frantically and silently.

Sam barely avoided the nod or grin he wanted to do – his waking up had clearly distracted Meg before she could finish, and Dean was slipping out of his bonds. It was only a matter of time now... "Nice altar," he tilted his head toward it. "You're controlling the daevas?"

"As much as anyone can," she smiles. "Old magic, older magic..."

"Why?" Sam snarled. Then his eyes widened. "Wait – you didn't kill us outright like the others." He locked eyes with Meg and his own narrowed. "We're _bait."_

"Dad," the brothers growled in unison.

Meg chuckled. "Smart boys." She smirked at Dean, then turned back to Sam, taking another step forward. "Your father's in town. And he'll come charging to rescue you – and the daevas will kill everybody, slow and messy."

Sam caught her eyes again. "They're here?"

"In this room, right now."

"How many?"

"All of them."

Dean freed his hands and stood up and Sam pressed, "But how many is that?"

Meg frowned. "You're pretty full of questions, Sammy."

"Don't call me that," he said, then he started to smile. "I'm just the distraction."

Her frown deepened and she started to turn as a single snap rang into the room. She completed it to find a strange red-haired man standing behind her, smirking coldly. "Who-"

 _"Now,_ Winchester, _run!"_ the strange man said.

Meg spun to find Sam missing. As she turned back, she saw Dean gone as well. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"Name's Gemini," he said, raising a hand to his side without taking his eyes off her. "And you're done."

Meg screamed as fire roared from the red-haired man's hand, immolating her altar. The daevas roared as well and, freed, raced around them.

Gemini fired bolt after bolt of fire and four twisted bodies became visible, shrieking audibly as they burned.

Meg's scream rose to join it as the invisible creatures lifted her up and threw her bodily through the window. Gemini poured fire that way and two more creatures died. He felt the wind whip by him three times as three others fled.

"Okay," he said softly. "There were about nine..." He glided to the window and looked out, clearly expecting to see Meg's body on the street seven stories below.

The street was empty.

"Huh," he said. "That's odd."

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

On a balcony, four stories down, Meg lay panting. The creature inside her had – unbelievably – listened when she had yelled to twist, her body knew what to do. Creature-Meg had twisted and caught the balcony. The shock of their arm dislocating at the shoulder had brought Meg front and centre, and she had pulled herself up and over the balcony, ignoring the commotion going on three stories above.

As she lay there panting, she felt a very distinct poke at her forehead – from the inside. "Leave...me alone..."

 _I can heal that._

Meg frowned. "...what?"

 _What I am... we can heal the meatsu—the host. Let me take care of that arm._

"Why...kind to me?"

 _Like you said – we both want to come out of this alive. With an injured wing, we're vulnerable._

"Do it."

There was the distinct _crack_ of a bone snapping into place, though there was a sudden absence of pain. "...wow...thank you."

 _You're... You're welcome._

Slowly, Meg got to her feet. She walked slowly back inside the building and down the stairs.

The creature allowed her to have a meal before she took back over. And she even told Meg when she was, allowing the original consciousness to slide into a corner of her mind and rest instead of being forced there.

The creature, apart from Meg, wondered what in the world had gotten into her. But there was just something about this woman that made her want to care for her.

Oh, her father would be so disappointed. But for once, Megara couldn't bring herself to care.

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

"That was a weird case," Sam mused as they walked up to their motel room.

Dean nodded, and suddenly froze in his tracks, staring down the line of the building.

"Dean?" Sam asked, frowning deeply.

Dean nodded his head toward the corner of the building, where the tail end of a monster of a black truck was visible, though it had been tucked away as if hidden.

Sam's eyes widened. "Oh, man," he breathed, and the next words came out in unison.

"Dad's here."


	5. John Meets Gemini

_CHAPTER FIVE_

It took a full ten minutes of discussion and debate before the brothers opened the door to their room. Sure enough, a shadowy figure stood by the window.

"Dad," they chorused.

John Winchester turned and smiled. "Boys."

"How long-" Dean began.

"I saw the girl take a swan dive. I take it she was the bad guy?"

Sam nodded. "It was a trap for you. Daevas."

John hissed, his breath sucking in sharply through his teeth. "That's old magic... you boys, you look tired." He licked his lips. "But there was something else up there, wasn't there? There was a lot of fire."

Dean nodded. "They're shadow creatures. There were nine of them, and six burned."

"Burned." John's chin rose in a single slow nod. "It was there, then. The fire elemental."

"Dad," they chorused wearily, and Dean finished, "He is not a threat."

"He's something supernatural, and-" John's counter was cut sharply off as he was suddenly propelled backwards into the wall like he was on strings.

Sam cried out as something sharp lashed across his chest before shoving him violently. Dean just had time to gasp, "No!" before he was thrown to the side like he was an oversized rag doll.

Sam barely registered it before he was thrown to land beside his father, who was being clawed and battered.

After being thrown one more time, Dean snarled, "Light 'em up!" And snapped his left hand.

John heard the crackle of fire and felt the heat close to his face. He opened his eyes – when had he closed them? - to see the distinctively stretched out humanoid form of a daeva ignite and fall from where it had been straddling him.

"Winchester!" a vaguely familiar voice bellowed. "Move!"

John climbed to his feet and saw a red-haired man in a henley firing fire from his wrists. A second daeva lit, and the man pinned him with narrowed fire-red eyes. "I said move!" he bellowed.

"My boys!"

"Are safe!" the man countered. "Outside! Go!"

John lurched for the door and felt his jacket being grabbed. Again, he heard the distinct crackle of fire whooshing behind him and felt heat. He was suddenly released and lurched out of the room.

He bolted to his truck, seeing the Impala beside it. But his boys were nowhere in sight. "Dean!" he yelled. "Sammy!"

No answer. Fire exploded out of the motel room he'd just vacated, and some parental instinct screamed at him that his boys were still in that room. The creature had lied to him!

Bellowing a denial, John raced back toward the motel, only to see the fire elemental glide out and land, shaking its head. "-swear," he heard it say, "that man's gonna be the death of us-"

"Damn straight." John snarled, stepping in front of the elemental, gun drawn and pointed right between its eyes. "I'm only going to ask this once, and you had damn well better tell me the truth. What the hell have you done with my sons?"

The elemental's hands rose and he said gently, "They're safe. I swear."

"Not good enough." His thumb moved toward the hammer.

"Winchester, this is the solid truth – you harm me, you harm your sons."

"I don't deal with threats."

"It isn't a threat. It's a fact. Your sons are safe. They got out of the motel safe."

"I don't believe you."

"You don't have to," the elemental said. "It's a fact."

Suddenly its right arm shot out, the palm connecting with John's wrist on the pressure point. John's hand spasmed and the gun fell out of it. Swearing, John grabbed at it with his left hand and straightened with it in his hand. He saw the elemental streaking into the sky and fired a single shot in its direction.

He saw it grab at its arm, but continue to gain altitude. John swore at himself for letting it get away, but felt a matter of satisfaction that he'd managed to shoot the creature.

Served it right, for attaching itself to his sons!

Now to find his boys and get the hell out of Chicago.

He was almost back to the truck when his boys came staggering out of a nearby alley. Both had blood on their clothing – Sam's chest and Dean's arm. It was clear the daevas had done a number on both of them. "Boys, you look beat all to hell."

Dean looked at him steadily. "You can't stay with us."

John frowned. "Dean-"

"Dean's right, Dad." Sam sounded exhausted. "We're your main weakness. We need to separate."

Dean reached out and wrapped his good hand's fingers around John's wrist. "But for pity's sake, Dad – no more radio silence. When we call, you either pick up or text us after with real messages, not just co-ordinates."

He shook his head. "Boys, that elemental-"

"Is not the issue!" Sam roared, clearly at the end of his patience. "The creatures that were trying to control the daevas are! And if it wasn't for that elemental, we would still be in that mess, maybe even more beat than we are! He _fried_ them, Dad! Why can't you-"

"Sammy."

Sam's jaw snapped shut with an audible click at Dean's single soft word.

Dean looked John in the eyes. "We love you, Dad. But your single-minded hate of Gemini is going to get us all hurt. You're getting distracted from the real issue. Find what killed Mom and Jess- stop it. Then you can deal with Gemini. Not until then."

John looked at him steadily for a long moment, then he sighed. "When did you get so damn wise?"

"I had a good teacher."

John found himself start to smile.

"Been back in touch with Bobby Singer. That guy's really smart." Dean smirked.

John huffed a laugh. "Smart-ass." He hugged Dean, then Sam. "Agreed," he said as he climbed into the truck. "The creature that killed Mary and Jess first. Then we deal with – Gemini, is it?"

His boys nodded in unison.

"I'll table it for now. You two get patched up and... I'll be in touch."

"See that you do!" they chorused.

John smiled – fondly – and started his truck. He drove away, watching them in the rear view mirror until they were no longer in sight.

He told himself they were right – they were better apart.

But it felt wrong.

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

The truck rumbled out of sight, and Dean grunted, shoulders hunching as his hand flew to his forearm.

Sam hissed softly. "The bullet's still in there, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Dean groaned. "Let's get outta here and -"

"Yeah, forget that." Sam snapped his left hand fingers, and Gemini re-formed.

"What the hell? Why did you-"

 _Hush and roll up your sleeve._

Gemini did, and his eyes went huge and round as the bullet wormed itself out of the closing wound and fell to the ground. "...holy..."

 _Yeah._ And Sam was laughing, the brat! _I figured you were in such pain and stress you forgot completely about Gemini's healing ability._

"Sucker bet." He sighed and stepped away from Gemini, frowning at the half-healed gash on his arm. "I can't believe Dad really shot us."

"Well," Sam said. "Now that we know he will when we're Gemini, we just have to be more careful around him." He paused. "Dean, do you think he would have done that if he knew it was us?"

"No," Dean said without hesitation. "I don't. But I also know he'd try to control the situation, to control us. It's a lose-lose situation, him knowing right now."

As they got into the Impala and Sam wrapped a strip of cloth around Dean's arm as a bandage until they could get to a new motel in a different town and finish healing, Sam asked, "Do you think we'll ever be able to tell him?"

"I don't know, Sammy," Dean sighed as he put his Baby in gear and they began to put Chicago behind them. "I hope so."

"Yeah," Sam sighed, leaning back in his seat. "Me too."

END


End file.
